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5 of the Coolest Frogs Ever!

The most underappreciated species

By Emily JimenezPublished 3 years ago 4 min read
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Photo Credit: https://www.pexels.com/@davidsonfreemedia

When I was a toddler, my parents bought me a little green froggie plush which I promptly named "Freddy".

And let me tell you, I took that guy everywhere with me. And if I ever forgot him at home, Lord help my poor mother who had to deal with my crying the entire trip.

I was always on the lookout for real frogs, wanting to hold them and love on them because they are just so gosh darn adorable!

As I got older, I didn't have time to go searching for frogs and, while they remained my favorite animal, I kind of forgot about them to an extent.

Then, YouTube recommended an 8 year old video to me of a little Desert Rain Frog. He was very round with short, stubby legs and a croak that sounded more like a squeaky dog toy.

Suddenly, my love for frogs washed over me all over again, but something occurred to me that I had never considered before.

There were different types of frogs.

I knew there were tree frogs, poison frogs, the stereotypical green frogs, and toads (yes, all toads are frogs). What I hadn't thought about, though, something that is now so obvious, is that frogs are not a species.

In actuality, there are over 4,000 different species of frogs!

I couldn't find an exact number, and no one really seems to agree on how many there are, but the smallest number I could find was 4,810 frog species according to World Atlas and the largest was 7,300 frog species according to Wikipedia, which is a pretty large margin, but just know that there are a lot of them, and they are constantly discovering more!

After discovering this, I went down a rabbit hole, exploring every single different type of frog I could find and let me tell you, frogs are way more diverse than I could have ever anticipated!

So, I decided that I wanted to share some of the coolest frogs I've found so far with all of you, because honestly, frogs are SO underappreciated!

Mossy Frog

Photo Credit: Smithsonian National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute

By far the most interesting thing about this guy is his appearance, as his coloring and the texture of his skin allow him to perfectly camouflage into moss, thus his name!

When frightened, they will curl into a little ball and pretend to be dead. Poor guy!

Glass Frog

Photo Credit: Lexo Salazar

From the top, this guy almost looks like a gummy frog and you can already start to see why he's called a glass frog with how glossy he is.

However, it's when you look at his belly that you really see how incredible he is.

Photo Credit: Earth News

When looking at his stomach you can clearly see his little heart pumping blood to his arteries and food moving through his gut.

As strange as it may seem, his translucency actually serves as a form of camouflage. It causes the edges of the frog to blur and blend in with the relative dark or light of his surroundings.

Pretty clever!

Fluorescent Purple Atelopus Frog

This guy was discovered in 2007. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a whole lot of information on him, but I had to include him because, well, just look at him!

I'm pretty sure I saw him vandalizing the side of a building the other day...

Flying Frog

Photo Credit: Active Wild

Much like a flying squirrel, a flying frog can't actually fly, but can glide thanks to their webbed feet.

They live almost exclusively in trees and can glide almost 50 feet or more!

Final Thoughts

These are all so cool and really incredible, but they're only a small handful! Frogs really are one of the most diverse and incredible orders in the world.

I hope you enjoyed this short frog appreciation article. I'd love to introduce you all to some more amazing frog species. After all, there are over 4,000 of them!

I'm planning on writing a few more article about certain types of frogs, like cute frogs, or even cursed frogs (there are a lot more cursed frogs than you'd probably expect)

I'd also like to write some articles that go into deeper detail about certain frog species. The more the better!

I hope you found this interesting, and maybe learned a little bit more about the wonderful world of frogs!

Have a blessed day!

wild animals
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